‘Braising’ is one of the greatest cooking techniques ever invented. It transforms even the cheapest parts of meat into irresistibly delectable melt-in-your-mouth morsels.Whenever I am hard pressed for time, there will always be a ‘pot of tasty braise’ on my stove top inviting my family for dinner. Eat me! eat me! to be exact.I would like to share with all my readers this popular dish that has found its way to many Malaysian kitchens especially for those who have young children in their homes. It’s a non-spicy dish and goes very well with rice. No wonder, this is a favourite dish for mothers with young picky-eaters. It doesn’t take much coaxing for the kids to chew neither does it need an advance course in cooking to prepare.
Braised Pork Belly with Red Skin Potatoes
Whole Grain Mustard Pork Ribs
June 16, 2009
Pan-fried sardines marinated with coarse sea salt
July 9, 2009Ingredients
3 strips of pork belly (approx. 8″ length each, cleaned)
4 medium size red skin potatoes, skin removed and cut into 4
2 star anise
3 cloves
3 cloves garlic, skin removed and smashed
grapeseed oil
dark soy sauce
light soy sauce
filtered water
white pepper
salt to taste
Method
- Marinate the strips of pork belly with dark and light soy sauce and white pepper.
Heat up a pan or a wok, drizzle in some grapeseed oil and slightly brown the potatoes on the outside. Turning them with a cooking thong to achieve an even brown color on all sides. Keep aside. - Add a little more grapeseed oil into the pan or wok and put the pork belly into the heated oil slowly. Seal in the juices of the meat, browning slightly. Discard oil.
- Place the meat into a pot, in goes the smashed garlic, cloves, star anise and a little water just enough to submerge the strips of belly. Bring to boil and immediately turn it down to a simmer. (if you prefer a darker braise, add a little more dark soy sauce and a few dashes of light soy sauce for taste). Put on the lid and simmer for 1 hour, turning the meat occasionally to have it evenly submerged while it simmers.
- Add in the potatoes, a little more water, stir and simmer for another 30 to 40 minutes. Potatoes will be soft and meat very tender with gravy not soup.
- Salt to taste.
- Take out the tender strips of pork belly and slice into small bite-size pieces before serving with steamy hot rice.
